Justin Higgo KC and Andrew Gurr, instructed by Andrew Dunn and Emily Higgins of CANDEY, acted for the successful defendants in Re Fifty Asset Management Ltd.

Following a ten-day trial in the Chancery Division before HH Judge Mark Cawson (sitting as a High Court judge) the Defendants successfully resisted a multi-million pound claim based on allegations that they had dishonestly conspired to take over a renewable energy investment business to the exclusion of their business partners.  In a salutary warning against the dangers of taking partial information (which had been secretly and improperly accessed by the First Claimant) out of context, the Judge wholly rejected the factual premise of the claims.  As part of their successful defence, the Defendants established that they did not breach any duty and at all relevant times acted lawfully following the termination of the business relationship by the Claimants.  The First Claimant, in particular, was the author of his own misfortune and found by the Judge at trial to have dishonestly misappropriated and concealed business funds, and to have advanced a false case.

The judgment also contains a useful analysis of the principles that apply where a claimant alleges that a business operated through companies gave rise to an overlying partnership or fiduciary duties.